Semantic features based on deduction of collocations of cognitive non - Factive verbs and epistemic adverbs

 Semantic features based on deduction of collocations of cognitive 
non-factive verbs and epistemic adverbs 
Đặc trưng ngữ nghĩa dựa vào sự đoán định của những kết ngôn giữa động từ 
phi thực hữu tri nhận và phó từ tình thái nhận thức 
Minh Giang Thi Trana,b* 
Trần Thị Minh Gianga,b* 
aInstitute of Research and Development, Duy Tan University, Da Nang, 550000, Vietnam 
aViện Nghiên cứu & Phát triển Công nghệ Cao, Đại học Duy Tân, Đà Nẵng, Việt Nam 
bFaculty of English, Institute of Linguistics, Duy Tan University, Da Nang, 550000, Vietnam 
bKhoa Tiếng Anh, Viện Ngôn ngữ học, Đại học Duy Tân, Đà Nẵng, Việt Nam 
 (Ngày nhận bài: 11/9/2019, ngày phản biện xong: 09/12/2019, ngày chấp nhận đăng: 4/5/2020) 
Abstract 
Modality has been an interesting field to all linguists in the world for a long time because of its complexity and variety. 
Lexical devices showing modality consist of verbs, adjectives, adverbs, particles... especially among them are 
collocations of a cognitive non-factive verb (CNFV) and an epistemic adverb (EA). The collocations aim at not only 
informing the action of the subject but also giving the speaker’s judgement to the truth or falsity of the content of the 
proposition. Therefore, in order to achieve the proficient use of modality collocations in communication, language users 
need to master their linguistic features. Basing on over 700 English samples collected from novels, short stories, and 
online materials, the paper aims to show semantic features based on deduction to help not only learners of English or 
even native speakers of English have more effective conversations but also the teaching English as a foreign language 
be more useful. 
Keywords: Pragmatic features; cognitive non-factive verb; epistemic adverb; collocations; modality. 
Tóm tắt 
Tình thái từ lâu đã là một lĩnh vực khá hấp dẫn với hầu hết các nhà ngôn ngữ học trên thế giới do bởi tính phức tạp và 
đa dạng của nó. Các phương tiện để diễn đạt tình thái bao gồm động từ, tính từ, phó từ, tiểu từ... đặc biệt hơn cả là các 
kết ngôn giữa hai phương tiện từ vựng: động từ phi thực hữu tri nhận và phó từ tình thái. Các kết ngôn tình thái này 
không nhằm mục đích thông báo hành động của chủ ngữ mà cho biết thái độ và sự đoán định của người nói với khả 
năng hiện thực của sự tình được nêu ở mệnh đề. Do đó, để hiểu và sử dụng các kết ngôn tình thái này có hiệu quả trong 
giao tiếp, người ta cần nắm rõ những đặc điểm ngôn ngữ của chúng. Dựa vào hơn 700 phát ngôn tiếng Anh được thu 
thập từ tiếu thuyết, truyện ngắn và trên mạng internet, bài viết này phân tích những đặc trưng ngữ nghĩa của các kết 
ngôn tình thái dựa vào sự đoán định nhằm giúp người học tiếng Anh hoặc thậm chí là những người Anh bản xứ nâng 
cao khả năng giao tiếp tiếng Anh cũng như sử dụng chuẩn xác các kết ngôn tình thái này trong việc kiến tạo các phát 
*Corresponding Author: Tran Thi Minh Giang, Institute of Research and Development, Duy Tan University, Da Nang, 
550000, Vietnam; Faculty of English, Institute of Linguistics, Duy Tan University, Da Nang, 550000, Vietnam. 
Email: trantminhgiang@duytan.edu.vn 
02(39) (2020) 96-105
Minh Giang Thi Tran / Tạp chí Khoa học và Công nghệ Đại học Duy Tân 02(39) (2020) 96-105 97 
ngôn bằng tiếng Anh. Đồng thời, kết quả khảo sát trong bài cũng có thể giúp ích trong việc giảng dạy tiếng Anh như 
một ngoại ngữ. 
Từ khóa: Những đặc trưng ngữ nghĩa; động từ phi thực hữu tri nhận; phó từ tình thái nhận thức; các kết ngôn; tình thái. 
1. Introduction 
Modality has become an interesting aspect to 
linguists in the world because of its complexity 
and variety. Investigating modality, we not only 
concern about form of language but also 
language in action, i.e. the interpersonal 
relationship, especially it is subjectivity that is 
paid more attention to and it means modality is 
always involved in all utterances because it is 
the indispensable factor playing an important 
role in imparting the speaker’s thoughts and 
attitude to the hearer. Therefore, Bally says that 
modality is the soul of the utterance, as cited in 
Nguyễn Văn Hiệp [9, 74]. As a matter of fact, 
English possesses a variety of lexical means to 
express modality including modal nouns, 
adjectives, adverbs and lexical verbs. In 
addition, “Modal elements frequently combine 
and interact dynamically” [6, 3]. However, 
according to Perkins “Doing research on 
modality is very similar to trying to move in an 
overcrowded room without treading on anyone 
else’s feet” [11, 4]. Despite its complication, 
the study of collocations has become an issue 
of so much interest that a lot of linguists have 
concerned about and in recent years, important 
advances have been made in the field of 
lexicology based upon the study of occurrence 
and collocation. With over 700 utterances 
consisting of the structure with the singular first 
person subject I and collocations including a 
cognitive non-factive verb and an epistemic 
adverb followed by a complement clause, 
semantic features based on deduction of the 
structure have been investigated. 
2. Review of previous studies related 
Discussing collocations, there have been 
some researches by linguists such as McIntosh 
[8], Lyons [7], Coates [4], Perkins [11], Hoye 
[6], Cappelli [1] [2], and Trần Thị Minh Giang 
[12], [13]. We can refer to the following 
studies: McIntosh [8] gave the clear and 
comprehensive definition of collocations. Later, 
Lyons [6], Coates [4] and Perkins [11] 
mentioned collocations, however they only 
made some overall introductions of 
collocations. Next, Hoye [6] undertook a 
study of modal-adverb collocations. He found a 
marked tendency for epistemic modals to 
attract adverb satellites. Then Cappelli [1] also 
mentioned modulating attitudes via adverbs but 
she only presented her general overview of 
adverbs co-occurring with verbs of cognitive 
attitude. Last but not least, Trần Thị Minh 
Giang [12] expressed her viewpoint of harmony 
of adverb satellites on non-factive verbs, 
however it is only a minor part in her master 
thesis because her study mainly investigated 
linguistic features of non factive verbs. Later, in 
her next study [13], the pragmatic features of 
English collocations between a cognitive non-
factive verb and an epistemic adverb were 
mentioned. The above review shows that until 
now a study of semantic features of the 
structure I + cognitive non-factive verb and 
epistemic adverb collocations based on 
deduction remains a neglected area. 
3. Methodology 
The data collection of over 700 English 
samples consisting of the singular first person 
subject I and collocations of a cognitive non-
factive verb and an epistemic adverb is 
collected from short stories, novels, and online 
materials including e-books and Brainy quotes. 
Especially, these English samples spoken by 
native speakers or writers of English such as I 
Minh Giang Thi Tran / Tạp chí Khoa học và Công nghệ Đại học Duy Tân 02(39) (2020) 96-105 98 
think perhaps, I certainly believe, I guess 
maybe, I just hope... are necessary data for the 
study. 
Epistemic modality is divided into the 
following small categories by Chung et al. [3] 
and Palmer [10] such as assumptive mood, 
declarative mood, deductive mood, dubitative 
mood, hypothetical mood, interrogative mood, 
speculative mood, samples are examined and 
classified into following three main semantic 
features including belief, inference and 
prediction. 
4. Deduction-based semantic features 
The use of patterns of the structure I + 
CNFV and EA collocations such as I really 
think, I certainly believe, I think perhaps, I 
guess maybe, I hardly think, I just think with 
the non-factual meanings shows that the 
speaker does not give certain commitment to 
the truth of state of affair in the complement 
clause. The speaker thinks that the content 
expressed in the complement clause is true; 
however, he or she does not have enough 
grounds to affirm the certainty of the truth 
mentioned in its proposition. Palmer [10] calls 
them weak assertion. This means the speaker 
does not give completely certain commitment 
to the truth or falsity of the propositional 
content, yet in order to impart some 
information to hearers, speakers may indicate 
suitable types of knowledge chosen to add to 
the degree to which they hold the knowledge to 
be reliable, the source of their knowledge. Here 
are the following categories we base on: 
- Assumptive mood is an epistemic mode 
attributing that the speaker expresses his/ her 
belief based on experiences in real life in order 
to deduce that what is said is true. 
(1) “Maybe you’d better call up the doctor. I 
think maybe this is it.” [23, 298] 
- Declarative mood is an epistemic mood 
showing that the propositional content 
expressed by the speaker’sutterance is an 
absolutely true statement of fact or a categorical 
assertion. 
(2) “I really believe he intended to empty his 
pockets of piastres and greenbacks.” [22, 38] 
- Deductive mood is an epistemic mood 
expressing that the speaker’s judgement 
towards the propositional content based on 
other facts is probably true. 
(3) “I thought so the revolver had an ejector, 
and here is the third cartridge. I really think, 
Inspector Martin, that our case is almost 
complete.” [18, 452] 
- Dubitative mood is an epistemic mood 
expressing the speaker’s tentative commitment 
towards the precision of his or her utterances. 
(4) “I hardly think he’ll be taken in again.” 
 [20, 116] 
- Hypothetical mood is an epistemic 
mood indicating that the speaker considers 
proposition as unreal situation but maybe 
possible in other circumstances. 
(5) “I really think that I should have fainted 
if I had not gone out.” [18, 298] 
- Interrogative mood is an epistemic 
mood attributing that the speaker wants to elicit 
details involving in the content of his/her 
statement from the hearer. 
(6) “I think perhaps it's a good thing I'm 
going away, don't you?” [20, 205] 
- Speculative mood is an epistemic mood 
that the speaker’s judgement from some certain 
facts towards the propositional content is 
possibly true. 
(7) “and when he held out his hand I 
really think he expected me to kiss it” [22, 85] 
Minh Giang Thi Tran / Tạp chí Khoa học và Công nghệ Đại học Duy Tân 02(39) (2020) 96-105 99 
Palmer [10] is especially interested in the 
speaker’s speculation and deduction. In his 
arrangement of different modal system, he puts 
deduction higher than assumption and 
assumption higher than speculation. 
Consequently, his view plays an important part 
in analysis of semantic features of cognitive 
non-factive verb and epistemic adverb 
collocations in this theme. Therefore, samples 
are examined and classified into following 
three main semantic features namely belief, 
inference and prediction. 
4.1 Realization of the structure I + CNFV and 
EA collocations showing in belief, inference 
and prediction 
4.1.1. The structure I + CNFV and EA 
collocations expressing belief 
Belief is a part of concept of knowledge 
involving the speaker’s personal belief 
convictions in which the source of knowledge 
is not specifically indicated because belief is 
something that the speaker himself or herself 
always considers being true. This may be 
indicated by the discourse context where the 
assumption of the speaker seems to be 
reasonable and he/ she may agree with the 
hearer if they share the same background 
information and cultural understanding. In this 
research, belief is signaled by the use of I think 
perhaps, I really think, I definitely think, I 
really believe, I rather think, indeed I think, I 
certainly think  in English. Let us consider 
the following examples. 
(8) “I have forgotten so much attention from 
girls I don’t like because of you and you think 
it’s funny.” 
 “I just think it’s funny that they are 
jealous of you.” [28, 12] 
(9) I just believe if you don't believe in God, 
then where is your moral barometer? That's just 
me talking. You can believe what you want to 
believe.” [32] 
(10) “Yes, I don't believe that the inter-
Korean relationship has, quote, 'deteriorated' 
since I assumed office. 
Rather I believe that the relationship 
between the two Koreas is entering into a new 
phase - a time of transition. And so I think that 
the North Koreans are trying to see what they 
can build with this, with my new 
administration.” [25] 
(11) “You can’t make a silk purse out of a 
sow’s ear. Well, I don’t know about that. I 
rather think you may, if you begin early in 
life.” [19, 417] 
In (8) – (11), the structure I + CNFV and EA 
collocations show that the speaker has made a 
subjective statement without basing on any 
reason. It is a pure belief that expresses the 
speaker’s speculation. The speaker may imply 
that he was not sure of the content of 
proposition but he thought he might be true. In 
instances like (8) and (9) the speaker gives 
his/her belief from his/ her own experience. 
With “I just think” and “I just believe” the 
speaker may want to express his low 
commitment to the truth of the proposition. In 
addition, “I rather believe” and “I rather think” 
in (10) and (11), the speaker gives his/ her 
judgement based on his/her speculation. 
However, the degree of the speaker’s 
commitment to the truth of proposition in this 
case is lower than those in the following ones. 
(12) “How will she manage to please him 
when they are married? I don’t think she will 
manage it and yet it might be managed and his 
wife might, I really believe, be the very 
happiest woman the sun shines on.” [17, 282] 
(13) “I really believe that if you practice 
enough you could paint the 'Mona Lisa' with a 
two-inch brush.” [15] 
Minh Giang Thi Tran / Tạp chí Khoa học và Công nghệ Đại học Duy Tân 02(39) (2020) 96-105 100 
(14) “I certainly think that 10 to 20 years 
from now, clearly the majority of veterinarians 
will be women.” [30] 
(15) “Yeah, I guess I'm not a particularly 
religious person, but I do really believe 
strongly that we all need to believe in 
something, and that's very personal to each one 
of us.” [16] 
(16) “One of the things that I really like 
about young adult fiction is that you can 
explore the relationships between teens and 
their parents. I definitely think that teens are a 
product of their parents. You either end up just 
like them or you consciously make the decision 
to be unlike them.” [28] 
(12) - (16) indicate higher degree of 
commitment of reality than (12) – (16). In this 
case, the speaker may want to convince the 
hearer to agree with him about the truth of 
proposition. With the constructions: I really 
believe, I certainly think, I definitely think, he
himself had his own evidence to support his 
belief because the personal experience may be 
considered an element of knowledge which is 
also called belief. From this analysis, these 
expressions of belief can be formulated as the 
following Figure 1. 
Figure 1. Formula of the structure I + CNFV and EA collocations expressing Belief 
In fact, these expressions are not dogmatic 
since the speaker is not trying to impose his 
view on other people, but it is somehow 
determined and self-confident. 
4.1.2. The Structure I + CNFV and EA 
collocations expressing inference 
In contrast to belief, the concept of 
knowledge in which the speaker can give 
his/her inference from his/her experience also 
appears more often in communication. It is said 
that evidence is the main base to inference; 
however, in some cases the evidence itself is 
not directly mentioned in the sentence and the 
By saying I + CNFV and EA collocation [P] 
Low commitment or certainty High commitment or certainty 
I assume I can say this because P is 
my own assumption 
I say: I think that P 
I assume what I say is true basing 
on my own evidence 
I say: I believe that P 
I say it because I want to say what I 
think and P is less likely to be true 
I want you to know that I am not sure 
about the truth or likelihood of P 
I say it because I want to show my 
certain commitment to P that P is 
more likely to be true 
I want you to know that I am quite 
sure about the truth or likelihood of P 
Minh Giang Thi Tran / Tạp chí Khoa học và Công nghệ Đại học Duy Tân 02(39) (2020) 96-105 101
speaker has to use inferential evidentials 
through a process of inference that bases on 
some information he has direct access before. 
With inferential modals, we often have a sub-
set of modals that refer to something ‘past-
oriented’ in that the situation referred to by the 
complement which is anterior (logically or 
temporally) to the judgement of modal 
expression. On the other hand, according to 
Hayakawa [5, 490] “An inference is the 
movement from premises to conclusion. 
Consequently, reasoning may be said to be the 
attempt to make valid inferences.” 
Inference seems to involve in not only 
knowledge reasoning but also perception. In 
fact, inference implies a transition from 
perception to knowledge. In inference, one 
arrives at some presumed knowledge by way of 
reasoning which takes as a point of departure of 
some empirical observation. The most 
commonly-used modal expressions showing 
this semantic feature are I think probably, I 
think maybe, I think perhaps, I guess maybe,  
in English. Let us take the following examples 
into consideration. 
(17) “I guess maybe directors see a face that 
seems to have been lived in. I know that my 
face has been lived in, yeah.” [26] 
(18) “Let's have another drink. I think 
perhaps Catherine's had enough,” [31, 139] 
(19) “I think probably the one trait that 
would concern me about brother Bing would be 
his lack of responsibility.” [14] 
(20)“How many crossroads are you allowed 
to have in life? I seem to have a lot of 
crossroads. I think maybe I crossed back across 
the same road too often.” [29] 
In (17) – (20), the speaker did not bother to 
specify the source of the presumed knowledge, 
leading the addressee to the thinking that there 
may be many things which underlie this 
knowledge. In (17), the speaker inferred 
directors’ decision of choosing him to play an 
important role in the film because they see his 
face has been lived in, which is quite dogmatic 
with only his thought. In (18), the speaker gave 
suggestion for another drink without Catherine 
because he realized Catherine’s being drunk 
with his/ her inference expressed by the pattern 
I think perhaps. In (19), with the pattern “I 
think probably”, the speaker showed the hearer 
his/ her anxiety about his/ her brother’s bad 
behavior, “his lack of responsibly” which the 
speaker found in Bing’s personality in the past. 
In (20), the speaker showed his deduction from 
his real life with a lot of crossroads each person 
is allowed to have and his inference with the 
pattern “I think maybe” displays that he guesses 
he crossed back across the same road too often 
thanks to his empirical observation. It means 
that he hasn’t found his way yet and maybe he 
hasn’t obtained anything new in his life. 
Thus, the semantic mechanism of the 
structure I + CNFV and EA collocations of 
inference can be stated in the following 
Figure 2. 
Minh Giang Thi Tran / Tạp chí Khoa học và Công nghệ Đại học Duy Tân 02(39) (2020) 96-105 102 
Figure 2. Formula of the structure I + CNFV and EA collocations expressing Inference 
In brief, in inference, the speaker mostly 
bases on his feelings or subjective induction in 
order to give the commitment to the proposition 
because he/she didn’t have enough foundation 
to assert the truth or falsity of the proposition. 
4.1.3